In many instances, passenger seats include a wide assortment of personal electronic and entertainment options to encourage passengers to remain seated as much as possible during transport for safety, crew mobility, and to enable efficient cabin service. Some passenger seats may provide video and audio entertainment, including television, video games, internet access, and other in-flight entertainment (“IFE”) components. Typically, these entertainment devices are mounted in the seat backs and arm rests of the passenger seats. In some cases, the passenger seats are equipped with power outlets to allow passengers to operate their own personal electronic devices without the need for battery power.
Due to constraints within the transport vehicle, space is limited for storage of the IFE equipment. The IFE equipment, including the electrical wiring, components, processor unit, etc. is typically stored within an IFE box. Conventionally, the IFE box is mounted on the side of the seat frame leg structure, thus inhibiting leg room, storage space under the passenger seat. More recently, as described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0058165, the IFE box has been stored underneath the passenger seat pan. The current passenger seat design allows technicians to unlock and raise the seat pan to access the IFE box for repair and maintenance, but the required steps to do so can be cumbersome and time consuming. Thus, it is desirable to provide a passenger seat design that allows a technician to quickly release and raise the seat pan in a quick and efficient manner to enable a more timely and successful repair.